Dr. Margaret Gessaman retired in August after 30 years of service to UNO,
both as a faculty member in Mathematics and as a campus wide administrator.
Professor Gessaman received her Ph.D. in Mathematics from Montana State University in 1966 and taught at Ithaca College for several years before arriving at UNO in 1970. From 1973-1980 she was chair of UNO's Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.
In 1980 Margaret became Dean for Graduate Studies and Research. As Dean her voice was persistently raised in defense of high scholarly standards. She strengthened the Graduate College in the crucial areas of academic and curricular quality and rigor.
In the early 1980's Dean Gessaman was instrumental in obtaining for the UNO Physics department funds from the new Nebraska Research Initiative to support research in materials science. Along with then Vice Chancellor Otto Bauer, she was successful in persuading system administrators in Lincoln that a UNO unit should be supported by NRI funds.
In the late 1980's Margaret played an important role in creating a graduate degree program in Computer Science within the Mathematics and Computer Science Department. She used her organizational and political skills to overcome strong opposition from other sectors of the NU system.
Over the years Margaret was involved in many professional activities outside of the University of Nebraska. For example, she served for many years as a reader of Advanced Placement examinations in Mathematics for the Educational Testing Service.
In 1993 Margaret returned to the Mathematics Department. In keeping with a long time interest, she developed a new course, History of Mathematics, which has become a required course for all Mathematics Education majors. In January of 1998, she again became Department Chair, the position she held until her retirement. During this second tenure as chair, she was very supportive of efforts by junior faculty members to develop a Math Club for undergraduate students. She also began this newsletter one year ago.
Margaret Gessaman can be proud of her professional accomplishments and contributions to UNO over the past 30 years.